Men’s golf continues fall season

Through two days of competition at the Destin Collegiate, the Troy men’s golf team sat at eighth place. The Trojans traveled to Destin, Florida, to face off against a field of 13 teams from around the region. 

Troy Athletics photo

Pablo Gracia sets up for a putt at NCAA Urbana Regional.

Troy competed against Middle Tennessee, ULM, Mercer, South Alabama, Florida A&M, Texas State and others in the three-day event that ended on Wednesday afternoon. In two days of competition, Troy shot six-under as a team. 

Despite a strong four-under round on day two, the Trojans dropped two spots in the ranking from sixth to eighth place. Troy looks to continue developing a roster that lost two Sun Belt Conference First Team golfers from last season. 

Junior Lee Poppell leads the Trojans through two rounds, riding the momentum from a 3-under first round to finish day two tied for 15th place. Poppell finished even in the second round, with three birdies cancelling out his three bogeys on the day. 

After shooting 2-over in round one, Pablo Gracia stormed back into the top-25 with a 3-under second round. His stellar round pushed him up 14 spots into a tie for 22nd place. 

Just behind Gracia was sophomore Grant Yerger, who was just one shot behind him. Yerger shot 2-under in the first round to move into a tie for 28th place. 

Freshman Thomas Crane carded a 1-under second round – his second under-par round of the season. He finished the second round with four birdies, and sits in a tie for 30th place. 

Landon Noble rounds out the Trojans lineup sitting in a tie for 44th place. He bounced back from a 2-over first round to shoot even in round two – he carded four birdies and four bogeys. 

Playing as an individual, Pierce Becker is tied for 61st place with a 3-over mark. The redshirt freshman shot even-par in the second round. 

After finishing up the Destin Collegiate, the Trojans have some time off before competing in the Turtle Point Invite in Florence, Alabama. The event starts on Sunday, Oct. 12 and runs through Monday, Oct. 13.